Treasure Island

‘I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a handbarrow.’ Young Jim Hawkins is at once terrified and captivated by the rum-soaked sea-dog who takes up lodgings at his father’s inn, the Admiral Benbow. But after discovering a treasure map in the sailor’s trunk, Jim embarks on a perilous journey of treachery, heroism and piracy aboard the ship Hispaniola.

Winner of the Book Illustration award and overall prize at the V&A Illustration Awards 2015

Production Details

Bound in buckram, blocked with a design by Sterling Hundley

Set in Bulmer

256 pages; frontispiece and 11 colour illustrations and the original Stevenson map

Printed endpapers

Blocked slipcase

10" x 7½"

A collector's edition of a swashbuckling classic

Sterling Hundley created his compelling illustrations using a
combination of pencil drawing, painting and digital techniques.
His work is both influenced by and stands out from a long tradition
of illustrating this iconic story. As Hundley remarked when accepting
the commission: ‘Treasure Island is hallowed ground in the
world of illustration. I would be honoured to take on the project.’

In 1882, the year before Treasure Island was published,
Stevenson lamented that romantic tales had become
eclipsed by realism: ‘English people of the present day
are apt, I know not why, to look somewhat down on
incident … It is thought clever to write a novel with no
story at all, or at least with a very dull one.’ His answer
was to write an adventure story that would become
ubiquitous, a novel that would not only set a course for
future children’s literature, but also conjure characters,
motifs and language that would become part of our
collective imagination. Indeed, a pirate without a buried
treasure and a wooden leg, a talking parrot and ‘pieces
of eight’, is no pirate at all.

Nurtured by Stevenson’s rebellious nature, the text is
informed by an air of moral ambiguity – an air that
becomes manifest in the seductive charm of Long John
Silver. As Michael Morpurgo writes in his new introduction,
‘Like Jim, we are at first entertained and entranced
by Silver, then appalled and entranced again.’ Silver’s
moral pragmatism flew in the face of the stale fiction
for boys that preceded Stevenson’s landmark work. The
text’s darkling nature is captured in Sterling Hundley’s
enthralling illustrations, which convey both the vivid
excitement of Jim’s travels and the claustrophobic terror
he feels as the journey begins to go awry. Also included
is the treasure map drawn by Stevenson. Rarely printed in colour, the different inks represent various characters’ annotations. The blocked, skull-emblazoned slipcase is
a reminder of the pirates’ treachery, the Jolly Roger and
the chilling refrain, ‘Fifteen men on the dead man’s
chest / Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!’

An adventure both incredible and believable

With a deft dab of description, with a turn of phrase or a tone of
voice, Robert Louis Stevenson brings everyone in Treasure Island to
life: Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver, Dr Livesey, Ben Gunn and the
rest. Each and every one is both plausible and complex. Through
Jim’s wide eyes—I was Jim when I first read this book, saw all of
it, lived it, through him—we see the Jekyll and Hyde in Long John
Silver. Like Jim, we are at first entertained and entranced by Silver,
then appalled and entranced again. The thread of the story is seamless
because no one is pulling the strings except the characters themselves;
the author just goes along with them, or so it seems. It takes
life so convincingly. We believe at once in poor Ben Gunn, live with
Jim as he overhears murderous conspiracy while hidden in the barrel
of apples on board the Hispaniola, and as he endures danger and
fear with his friends behind the stockade on Treasure Island.
As for place, I know the Admiral Benbow inn, where the book
begins, as well as I do my own village pub. I can picture every nook
and cranny of it. I know the Hispaniolaem. as well as if I’d sailed on
her—from the exact location of the barrel of apples in which Jim
hides, to how the sails are set and how the lantern swings below in
the cabin, how she creaks and groans at sea or riding at anchor. And
Treasure Island I know like I know the island of Bryher in the Isles
of Scilly, where I’ve spent my summer holidays for over thirty years.
(I’m sure Treasure Island is why I go there.) Jim Hawkins has taken
me to Treasure Island and shown me the lie of the land, the marshy
groves, the stockade on the hill. I know the entire coastline as Jim
takes the helm of the Hispaniola, and single-handedly sails the ship.
All utterly incredible, but made credible.
An extract from Michael Morpurgo's introduction

Inside the book

About Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) was born in Edinburgh,
and led a peripatetic existence, dictated by his precarious health,
moving between Scotland, America, Europe and finally the South
Pacific. He trained as an engineer and for the law, but began to publish
essays after being called to the bar in 1875. His first book was
the travelogue An Inland Voyage, published in 1876. He married in
1880, and it was while he sketched a map for his stepson that he was
inspired to write one of his most famous novels, Treasure Island
(1883). Publication of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
and Kidnapped (1886) sealed his success; he continued writing prolifically
until the day of his death in Samoa in 1894.

About Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo, OBE, is a former Children’s Laureate and
best-selling author of over 130 books for children, including The
Butterfly Lion (1996), Kensuke’s Kingdom (1999) and Private Peaceful
(2003). His highly acclaimed novel War Horse (1982) was
adapted for the stage in 2007, and released as a film directed by
Steven Spielberg in 2012. Morpurgo’s most recent novel is Listen to
the Moon (2014).

About Sterling Hundley

Sterling Hundley is an illustrator and painter. He earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Art and Design in 1998
from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he is now an Associate
Professor. A recipient of multiple medals from the Society of
Illustrators, New York, Hundley was selected as one of eight artists
to participate in the State of the Art: Illustration 100 Years After
Howard Pyle exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum in 2012. The
exhibition served as a contemporary lens on the historical influence
of Pyle, whose star pupil, N. C. Wyeth, created the original illustrations
for Treasure Island.

Reviews

"A classic tale given a definitive treatment by Folio. the edition stands out a the unique acheivment that it is, in a way that "collected works" versions always fail to match in their uniform treatmen..." [read more]

"A classic tale given a definitive treatment by Folio. the edition stands out a the unique acheivment that it is, in a way that "collected works" versions always fail to match in their uniform treatment of works that are often disparate (both in content and quality). All of Stevenson's stories thus far published by Folio are eminently desirable in their distinct rendering." [hide full review]

Review by jimbo@netvigator.com on 14th Dec 2015

Text:

Illustrations:

Binding:

Rating:

5/5

"This is a decidedly 'meaty' version of the 'mother' of all adventure stories.
For me, the denouement was always wrapped up too quickly relative to the rest of the story - LJS should've got away with ..." [read more]

"This is a decidedly 'meaty' version of the 'mother' of all adventure stories.
For me, the denouement was always wrapped up too quickly relative to the rest of the story - LJS should've got away with a little more drama, but this is a small quibble.
Nonetheless, this is top work by the FS." [hide full review]

Review by anon on 12th Jul 2015

Text:

Illustrations:

Binding:

Rating:

5/5

"This is a great illustrated edition of Treasure Island, the illustrations are of a dreamy like condition,evocative of N.C Wyeth's illustrations. A worthy edition of Treasure Island for your collection..." [read more]

"This is a great illustrated edition of Treasure Island, the illustrations are of a dreamy like condition,evocative of N.C Wyeth's illustrations. A worthy edition of Treasure Island for your collection. My only (minor) complaint is the slipcase doesn't feel as sturdy as other Folio Society publications, other than that it is a great book to have in your collection. " [hide full review]